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public passage A right held by the public to pass over a body of water, whether the underlying land is publicly or privately owned.

public person A sovereign government, or a body or person delegated authority under it.

public place Any location that the local, state, or national government maintains for the use of the public, such as a highway, park, or public building.

public policy 1. Broadly, principles and standards regarded by the legislature or by the courts as being of fundamental concern to the state and the whole of society. Courts sometimes use the term to justify their decisions, as when declaring a contract void because it is "contrary to public policy." - Also termed policy of the law. The policy of the law, or public policy, is a phrase of common use in estimating the validity of contracts. Its history is obscure; it is most likely that agreements which tended to restrain trade or to promote litigation were the first to elicit the principle that the courts would look to the interests of the public in giving efficacy to contracts. Wagers, while they continued to be legal, were a frequent provocative of judicial ingenuity on this point, as is sufficiently shown by the case of Gilbert v. Sykes [16 East 150 (1812)J ... : but it does not seem probable that the doctrine of public policy began in the endeavor to elude their binding force. Whatever may have been its origin, it was applied very frequently, and not always with the happiest results, during the latter part of the eighteenth and the commencement of the nineteenth century. Modern decisions, however, while maintaining the duty of the courts to conSider the public advantage, have tended more and more to limit the sphere within which this duty may be exercised." William R. Anson, Principles of the Law of Contract 286 (Arthur L Corbin ed., 3d Am. ed. 1919). 2. More narrowly, the principle that a person should not be allowed to do anything that would tend to injure the public at large.

public pond See GREAT POND.

public power See POWER (3).

public power A power vested in a person as an agent or instrument of the functions of the state. Public powers comprise the various forms of legislative, judicial, and executive authority.

public property State- or community-owned property not restricted to anyone individual s use or possession.

public property See PROPERTY.

public prosecutor 1. See PROSECUTOR (1). 2. See DISTRICT ATTORNEY.

public prosecutor 1. See DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 2. See PROSECUTOR (1).

public purpose An action by or at the direction of a government for the benefit of the community as a whole.

public record See RECORD.

public record A record that a governmental unit is required by law to keep, such as land deeds kept at a county courthouse. Public records are generally open to view by the public. Cf. public document under DOCUMENT. reporter record. In some jurisdictions, a trial transcript. - Also termed stenographers record. silent record. Criminal procedure. A record that fails to disclose that a defendant voluntarily and knowingly entered a plea, waived a right to counsel, or took any other action affecting his or her rights.

public relations 1. The business of creating or maintaining a company s goodwill or good public image. 2. A company s existing goodwill or public image. Abbr. PR.

public reprimand See REPRIMAND.

public reprimand A published notice, appearing usu. in a legal newspaper or bar journal, admonishing the attorney about improper conduct and describing the impropriety for the benefit of other members of the legal profession.

public revenue A governments income, usu. derived from taxes, levies, and fees.

public revenue See REVENUE.

public right See RIGHT.

public right A right belonging to all citizens and usu. vested in and exercised by a public office or political entity. Cf. private right.

public right-of-way The right of passage held by the public in general to travel on roads, freeways, and other thoroughfares.

public right-of-way See RIGHT-OF-WAY.

public safety The welfare and protection of the general public, usu. expressed as a governmental responsibility <Department of Public Safety>.

public sale 1. A sale made after public notice, such as an auction or sheriffs sale; specif., a sale to which the public has been invited by advertisement to appear and bid at auction for the items to be sold. 2. Patents. An actual exchange for value or an offer through some medium (e.g., a sales brochure) of an article, product, or process to a member of the general public.

public sale See SALE.

public school An elementary, middle, or high school established under state law, regulated by the local state authorities in the various political subdivisions, funded and maintained by public taxation, and open and free to all children of the particular district where the school is located. - Also termed common school. 2. The collective body of students under instruction in an institution of learning_ 3. A group of people adhering to the same philosophy or system of beliefs.

public school See SCHOOL.

public seal A seal used to certify documents belonging to a public authority or government bureau.

public seal See SEAL.

public sector The part of the economy or an industry that is controlled by the government. Cf. PRIVATE SECTOR.

public security A negotiable or transferable security that is evidence of government debt.

public security See SECURITY.

public service 1. A service provided or facilitated by the government for the general public s convenience and benefit. 2. Government employment; work performed for or on behalf of the government. 3. Broadly, any work that serves the public good, including government work and public-interest law.

public servitude A servitude vested in the public at large or in some class of indeterminate individuals. Examples include the right of the public to use a highway over privately owned land and the right to navigate a river the bed of which is privately owned.

public servitude See SERVITUDE (2).

public session See open session (1).

public session See open session under SESSION (1).

public statute 1. See general statute under STATlJTE. 2. See PUBLIC LAW (2).

public statute See PUBLIC LAW (2).

public stock 1. See public security under SECURITY. 2. Stock of a publicly traded corporation.

public stock See STOCK.

public store See STORE.

public store A government warehouse administratively maintained, as for the storage of imported goods or military supplies.

public tort See TORT.

public trial See TRIAL.

public trust See charitable trust under TRUST.

public use See USE (1).

public utility See UTILITY.

public utility district See municipal utility district under DISTRICT.

Public Utility Holding Company Act A federal law enacted in 1935 to protect investors and consumers from the economic disadvantages produced by the small number of holding companies that owned most of the nation s utilities. The Act also sought to protect the public from deceptive security advertising. 15 USCA §§ 79 et seq. Abbr. PUlfCA.

public verdict See VERDICT.

public vessel See VESSEL.

Public Vessels Act A federal law enacted in 1925 to allow claims against the United States for damages caused by one of its vessels. 46 USCA app. §§ 781-90. Abbr. PVA.

public war See WAR.

public water See WATER.

public welfare See WELFARE (1).

public wharf See WHARF.

public works See WORKS.

public worship See WORSHIP.

public writing 1. The written acts or records ofa government (or its constituent units) that are not constitutionally or statutorily protected from disclosure. Laws and judicial records, for example, are public writings. A private writing that becomes part of a public record may be a public writing in some circumstances. 2. Rare. A document prepared by a notary public in the presence of the parties who sign it before witnesses. Also termed (in both senses) public instrument; (in sense 2) escritura publica.

public wrong See WRONG.

public, true, and notorious Eccles. law. The concluding words of each allegation in a court petition.

publica delicta (pab-li-ka di-lik-ta). [Latin] Roman law. Public wrongs; crimes. See DELICT. Cf. PRIVATA DELICTA.

publica vindicta (pab-li-ka vin-dik-ta). [Latin]. The protection of the public interest.

publican (pab-li-kan). 1. A person authorized by license to keep a public house for consumption of alcoholic beverages on or off the premises. 2. PUBLICANUS.

publican us (pab-li-kay-nas). (Latin]. Roman law. A tax collector. A publicanus was described as "a farmer of the public revenue," although the publicanus reaped only the money from that sown by the labor of others. Often shortened to publican.

publication 1. Generally, the act of declaring or announcing to the public. 2. Copyright. The offering or distribution of copies of a work to the public. At common law, publication marked the dividing line between state and federal protection, but the Copyright Act of 1976 superseded most ofcommon-law copyright and thereby diminished the significance of publication. Under the Act, an original work is considered published only when it is first made publicly available without restriction. The concept of publication was of immense importance under the 1909 Act. It became a legal word of art, denoting a process much more esoteric than is suggested by the lay definition of the term. That it thus evolved was due largely to the American dichotomy between common law and statutory copyright, wherein the act of publication constituted the dividing line between the two systems of protection [state and federal]." 1 Melville B. Nimmer & David Nimmer, Nimmer on Copyright § 4.01, at 4-3 (Supp. 1997).

publication right The right of an author or artist to decide when to reveal or display a creative work. Publication is one of the moral rights of artists recogniz.ed in civil-law countries and much of Europe, but largely unavailable in the United States. Also termed right ofdisclosure.

publication-quality drawings Illustrations or drawings filed with a patent application and capable of being scanned.

public-authority justification See JUSTIFICATION.

public-authority justification A justification defense available when an actor has been specifically authorized to engage in the conduct constituting an offense in order to protect or further a public interest.

public-benefit corporation See public corporation (3) under CORPORATION.

public-convenience-and-necessity standard A common criterion used by a governmental body to assess whether a particular request or project should be granted or approved.

public-duty doctrine The rule that a governmental entity (such as a state or municipality) cannot be held liable for an individual plaintiff s injury resulting from a governmental officer s or employee s breach of a duty owed to the general public rather than to the individual plaintiff. Also termed public-duty rule. See SPECIAL-DUTY DOCTRINE.

public-exchange offer A takeover attempt in which the bidder corporation offers to exchange some of its securities for a specified number of the target corporation s voting shares. Cf. TENDER OFFER.

public-exchange offer See OFFER.

public-function doctrine See PUBLIC-FUNCTION TEST.

public-function rationale See GOVERNMENTAL-FUNCTION THEORY.

public-function test In a suit under 42 USCA § 1983, the doctrine that a private person s actions constitute state action if the private person performs functions that are traditionallv reserved to the state. Also termed public-function d;ctrine; public-function theory.

publici juris (pab-li-si joor-is), adj. [Latin] Of public right; of importance to or available to the public <a city holds title to its streets as property publici juris> <words that are in general or common use and that are merely descriptive are publici juris and cannot be appropriated as a trademark>.

public-interest exception The principle that an appellate court may consider and decide a moot case although such decisions are generally prohibited - if (1) the case involves a question of considerable public importance, (2) the question is likely to arise in the future, and (3) the question has evaded appellate review.

public-interest law Legal practice that advances social justice or other causes for the public good, such as environmental protection. Although public-interest law primarily encompasses private not-for-profit work, the term is sometimes used to include the work of government agencies such as public-defender offices. Cf. CAUSE LAWYERING; social justice under JUSTICE.

public-interest lawyer See LAWYER.

publicist 1. A public-relations specialist. 2. An international-law scholar. The term applies to scholars of both public and private international law.

public-key encryption See KEY ENCRYPTION.

public-lending right In the U.K. and some other countries, the right of an author to a royalty for works that are lent out by a public library.

public-liability insurance See liability insurance.

public-liability insurance See liability insurance under INSDRANCE.

publicly held corporation See public corporation (1) under CORPORATION.

publicly held corporation See public corporation (1).

publicly traded partnership A partnership whose interests are traded either over-the-counter or on a securities exchange. These partnerships may be treated as corporations for income-tax purposes. IRC (26 USCA) § 7704(a). - Abbr. PTP. Also termed master limited partnership.

publicly traded partnership See PARTNERSHIP.

public-meeting law See SUNSHINE LAW.

public-performance right See PERFORMANCE RIGHTS.

public-policy limitation A judicially developed principle that a person should not be allowed to deduct expenses related to an activity that is contrary to the public welfare. This principle is reflected in the Internal Revenue Code s specific disallowance provisions (such as for kickbacks and bribes).

public-records doctrine The principle, applicable in many states, that a third person acquiring or interested in real or immovable property may rely on the face of relevant public records and need not investigate further for unrecorded interests.

public-records exception The exception from the hearsay rule for the contents of certain public records or the absence of a record where it would ordinarily be kept in public archives. Fed. R. Evid. 803(8)-(10).

public-safety exception Evidence. An exception to the Miranda rule, allowing into evidence an otherwise suppressible statement by a defendant concerning information that the police needed at the time it was made in order to protect the public. If, for example, a victim tells the police that an assailant had a gun, and upon the suspect s arrest the police find a holster but no gun, they would be entitled immediately to ask where the gun is. Under the public-safety exception, the suspect s statement of the gun s location would be admissible.

public-service commission A commission created by a legislature to regulate public utilities or public-service corporations. 4. The act of doing or perpetrating (as a crime) <the perpetrator fled to Mexico after commission of the assault>. 5. A fee paid to an agent or employee for a particular transaction, usu. as a percentage of the money received from the transaction <a real-estate agent's commission>.